1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of authoring electronic information. More specifically, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for creating, modifying, and deleting audio objects.
2. Description of Related Art
Communication with others is central to the functioning of modern business. Oral and written communications comprise the bulk of this interaction. There are costs and benefits to each. Oral communications enable a greater degree of expressiveness and clarity while written media allow for the easy and efficient exchange of large amounts of information.
These tradeoffs carry over into the electronic realm. Text and email communications, while easy to generate, and placing a low burden on electronic hardware, do not allow the rich, expressive communication that sometimes may be required. Conversely, most of the tools for creating messages with audio content are too complex, cumbersome, and time consuming for regular usage. These tools are inadequate because they focus exclusively on temporal arrangements wherein the audio information is arranged relative to its playback sequence. None of the prior art allows for segments of audio to be associated with an item or group of items through spatial proximity on a 2 dimensional layout. This severely limits the potential for flexible and intuitive editing of audio alone or when it is part of larger multimedia messages.
What is needed is a method for creating effective audio content that is simple, efficient and intuitive.